Fr. David P. Cote
Parish priest, pastor; diocesan director of professional services of the Bureau of Human Relations for District 5 in Caribou; executive director of St. Michael’s Children’s Home in Bangor; Diocesan Resettlement Director for refugees. Retired in 2014. One of three priests accused in a 4/2023 lawsuit of sexually abusing four Native American children, ages 7 to 16, at St. Ann Parish on Indian Island between 1972 and 1987. Cote told a news outlet, “I don’t see myself as abusing anybody.” One woman said Cote abused her in the rectory kitchen in the summer of 1978. She said her father witnessed the abuse and confronted Cote, and the family soon moved. The claims were reportedly included in the Diocese’s 2026 settlement with approximately 100 victims.
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